Purple Hooter

February 1, 2011

This drink was originally called a purple people eater and appears as early as:

First hand in 1988“Bruce mixed us each what he called a purple people eater, which consisted of two shots of vodka in a twelve-ounce glass of sweet red wine. He sipped his cautiously, but the mixture tasted more or less like grape soda to me”

This drinks name is derived from the 1988 Movie with the same name, which is derived from the “The Purple People Eater” song, written by Sheb Wooley, that reached #1 in the summer of 1958.

“The Purple People Eater” tells how a strange monster (described as a “one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater”) descends to Earth because it wants to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band.

The monster isn’t necessarily purple but rather it is purple people that the monster eats, as shown in the following excerpt:

“I said Mr Purple People Eater, what’s your line? He said eating purple people, and it sure is fine But that’s not the reason that I came to land I wanna get a job in a rock ‘n roll band”

The character was used as the basis for a feature film in 1988, with an all-star cast ranging from Neil Patrick Harris, Ned Beatty, and Thora Birch.

Even as late as 1993 this drink was still known as a Purple People Eater as seen here:

At some point between 1993 and 1996 this drinks name changed from the Purple People Eater to a Purple Hooter, it is unclear why this change took place, but almost immeadiately the Purple People Eater was phased out of most cocktail guides.

Glamour: Volume 94, Issues 9-12 in 1996

“Purple Hooter (vodka, Chambord, cranberry juice)”

This drink has many contradicting recipes, however, analyzing similar ingredients and probable confusions have enabled us to accurately determine the ingredients in this drink.

This drink dates to 1988 and contained at least as of then:

Shake These Ingredients:

Vodka (Smirnoff Citrus Vodka is introduced to this drink as early as 1997)